


All is Dust

by WyattShepard



Series: Fallout 4 [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyattShepard/pseuds/WyattShepard
Summary: The final battle for one of my survival characters, and how I envisioned her going out.





	All is Dust

The wooden doors of the Salem Museum of Witchcraft came crashing open for Leslie to come sprinting through, with her prize tucked under her left arm. She heard a deafening roar from behind her and then felt the rush of wind as the museum’s double doors flew past her.

               _That would be the mother,_ She thought to herself dryly, tucking the egg a bit tighter against her chest.

              She glanced backwards which turned out to be an instant mistake. The Deathclaw Matriarch was about ten feet behind her, and gaining ground fast. Clenching her teeth, she pulled a Vertibird signal grenade from her jacket pocket, bit the cap off, and dropped it in favor of her pistol.

               _Just need one chance_

She took careful aim with the .44 magnum, sticking the tip of her tongue out slightly like she always did when making a difficult shot. Two bullets tore through it’s tough hide and the third took a chunk of its jaw. It cried out in rage and for a moment the two made eye contact. They stared at one another and Leslie could tell from the Deathclaw’s eyes that one of them was going to die today. The Sentinel slowly brought her pip-boy to her hand and clicked a few keys.

“It sure as fuck won’t be me,” She smirked as the stealth boy shimmered over her skin, making her vanish in mere seconds. This gave her the time that she asked for and she ducked behind several nearby rocks and tried to slow her beating heart. This wasn’t her first suicide mission, not by a long shot. It was however her first time stealing a deathclaw matriarch’s eggs. She took a deep breath and listened. It was searching for her but didn’t seem to know where she had went. Only a couple of seconds separated her from the beast, and she knew it. She took a second to brush the red hair from her eyes and closed them to calm her heartbeat and breathing. The vertibird was taking a long time to respond, but she had to hold out. They would get here, they had too. The scratching of claws on rock urged her to move.

              Rolling from cover she fired another round into the beast’s shoulder which it responded too with a well-aimed boulder. The huge rock threw the woman from her feet where she landed on her back several feet away. Her Pip-boy sprang to life with warning lights, and one glance at the machine confirmed her suspicions.       

               _“Nice shot,” she spat back._ She winced at the pain in her arm but held the egg even closer despite this.

              “You want this egg back? Try and take it bitch,” she nearly growled at the creature. It simply regarded her the same, but it was almost as if it was listening to her for a moment. When that moment ended two things happened simultaneously.

              “Vector is green stand-by for approach. Enemy sighted; why don’t we give Sentinel Thomas some breathing room,” a voice from her Pip-boy asked, making her jump.

              “Catch a riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide,” another voice suddenly yelled over the radio.

Then there was hellfire.

The roar of a minigun ripped through the air as the vertibird circled over her head slowly, unloading countless rounds into the deathclaw. Leslie sprang to life and leapt clear and took cover behind another set of boulders. The beast roared in response to the vertibird and threw a boulder at it which the pilot easily dodged.

“Woah, that she-bitch almost took us out James,” The voice from the minigun commented. Leslie could almost hear the pilot roll his eyes in response.

“Stay clear, Ma’am. We will have you in the air in no time,” the pilot’s voice sounded from her Pip-boy. She pressed her back against the warm rock surface.

The hum of minigun fire continued for another 10 seconds before she decided to peek her head over the rock. The deathclaw was nearly in two pieces, the rest of the creature was a red smear on the ground. The vertibird landed safely and the engines gradually died down. The Knight on the minigun lowered the front of his weapon and gave her a wide grin and motioned as if tipping a hat towards her.

“Afternoon, Sentinel Thomas. Heard you was lookin’ for an evac,” he asked offering his hand to help her up, which she accepted. She pulled herself up and managed to strap herself into the seat behind the gunner.

“So, you’ll tell us the whole story right,” the gunner turned to regard her as he asked. Leslie looked up at him but the words died in her throat. From the woods about twenty feet from where they had landed, emerged a glowing deathclaw. It only took two sniffs of air for it to find them. It cleared five feet in a single stride.

            Panicked hands began fumbling with the restraints on her seat. She would have dropped the egg had the gunner not caught it.

            “Uh woah there Ma’am, almost dropped your payment there,” He commented with a wide grin.

Another stride, ten feet left.

“You alright,” the gunner asked.

Five feet left now.

“Brace,” she managed to scream before it collided with the side of the vertibird, throwing the pilot against the window and the knight from his minigun. Leslie smashed the side of her head against something hard and her vision faded to black.

There was a sharp pain in her head, and all she could hear was persistent ringing. When she finally sat up and remembered where she was, it was already too late. The razor claw cut through her harness with ease, lifting her from the wreckage. It wasn’t gentle and held her up by her broken arm making her cry out in pain. However, when she looked the deathclaw in the eyes, she was smiling. Bringing her other hand up, she fired the magnum twice into the beast’s stomach, making it howl in pain. She dropped her pistol and closed her hand around the cold metal strapped to her hip. She punched in a four digit code and the beeping started. On the woman’s hip was a mini-nuke that she had prepared earlier for the mission, but hadn’t had a chance to use, until now.

“Ad Victoriam,” she said quietly to the deathclaw, a tired smile on her lips. In response the deathclaw simply roared and raked its right claw through her stomach. She cried out in pain, coughing blood onto the beast’s face. The beeping from the mini-nuke continued. That’s when she heard it: the minigun spooling up.

“Catch.. a ride,” the gunner spat, blood trailing down the corner of his mouth.

The deathclaw was showered with bullets and in the surprise, it dropped her. She landed on her back and didn’t waste any time rolling away from it. Scrambling to her feet she took off sprinting, her one good arm holding her stomach where blood continued to stream. The deathclaw roared, sending radiation out in a wave with enough force to throw the weakened man from the minigun. It casually approached the crashed vertibird and ran its claws through the pilot's stomach and ripped him in two.

“Hey fuck-face,” Leslie’s voice carried, making the deathclaw turn and glance in her direction. After half a moment's pause it charged her.

“Catch,” She yelled, winding up and tossing the mini nuke like a football. Like fate had planned it all, the bomb detonated as it made contact with the creature. Victory was short lived however, as Leslie fell to her knees, now fully aware that she was and has been bleeding out. Despite her heart working overtime with all the fighting, she felt cold. Reaching into her bag she rummaged around in search of a stimpack but her hand came up empty. Her heart sank.

“So… Tired,” she mumbled, sliding down onto her back. Despite it all she found herself laughing quietly.

“What a dumb fucking way to go out,” She said, finding it harder and harder to form the words. She winced as the end of the sentence drove the wind from her lungs. Something was stinging her eyes but she had neither the energy nor mind to brush it away. It was then she heard voices, small at first and far away. When they persisted she actually started to listen to them.

“Hello, this is Paladin Ramsey, does anyone copy? Fuck we need to hurry.”

*Bang bang* carried over as the paladin pounded the inside of the vertibird.

“Double time, Lancer! Thomas isn’t responding to her comms,” the voice barked. Leslie wanted to respond, she tried to lift her arm to look at her pip-boy but found that she couldn’t find the strength to do it. She swallowed and found that her throat was also very dry. Her vision began to fade as more sound erupted from her pip-boy, but she was too tired to listen.

“Target sighted, I repeat target sighted. I have eyes on Thomas and – mother of God,” Ramsey’s voice trailed off. The words were muffled in Leslie’s ears, like she was under water hearing a conversation on land.

As dust was kicked up in wake of the two landing vertibirds Leslie’s eyes slid closed slowly. Paladin Ramsey leapt from the vertibird and rushed over to where Leslie lay unmoving.

            “Thomas, Leslie speak to me damnit,” the Paladin shouted over the slow hum of the engines. Her eyes opened slowly and looked over at him.

            “Hey Jaxon, how’re you doing? I didn’t think we’d be needing so much help,” She had to stop as a coughing fit racked her body.

“Sorry about that,” She managed to choke out. He could tell she was trying to put on a brave face, but even moving her eyes to look at him looked extremely taxing on her.

                “We’ll get you help right away. Don’t fucking apologize either, you performed with more bravery than anyone I’ve seen come through the Brotherhood in years,” He was saying, holding back tears behind his helmet. Leslie hummed quietly at the praise, closing her eyes again for a moment.

            “Where is the fucking medic, she doesn’t have time for this come on,” the Paladin yelled over his shoulder. Leslie didn’t hear those words though. She had taken her last breath as he held her. She died serving the Brotherhood of Steel, and if there was ever such a thing as a good death, many would say that is how she died. It was somewhat fitting for her to die fighting tooth and nail, she had never been one to simply give in, after all.


End file.
